Biological Immortality
by Nikolaos
Summary: April was the one who mentioned it first. "Splinter is rather old for a rat." Then she asked "How long would we live?" I'd never thought about it before, never thought I needed to. Splinter would always be there and I never thought about the end. Donnie had a theory though. A theory he was willing to explain. How long would we live for?


**AN: **It's been a while since I've wrote anything new for Ninja Turtles, but I was re-watching the original 90's movies then some of the 2k3 episodes and it grabbed my attention that Splinter is a tad old for a rat. Yes, yes, it's an obvious fact but it's something I just never bothered to really think about, I just accepted it as another thing that was. Just like I accepted that a rat could mimic ninjitsu, it just was. Anyway, it got me thinking that maybe there was a more scientific reason for Splinter's increased life span.

The science I mention is real, I have however only used the term (and the science) in the most liberal of senses, and of course this is a work of fiction.

Hope you all enjoy and any reviews that are left are greatly appreciated, after all, how may I improve my writing if nobody tells me where I need improvement.

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**TMNT**

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It was April who mentioned it first, made me notice. I'm sure Donnie had already considered it. He's a genius, so why wouldn't he have. I bet Leo would have thought about it too, he was like that, always thinking ahead. Then there was Raph, he liked to make everyone think that he was dumb and stupid and nothing more than the muscle in the group, but we all knew better. So I'm betting he would have noticed as well.

I didn't though. It didn't even cross my mind.

"Splinter is rather old for a normal rat," she said.

I didn't think he was old. He didn't act old.

"True," hummed Donnie. "He's lived four times as long as he would if he hadn't have been mutated. Normal rats only live about five years."

"He's still going strong though," stated Leo not opening his eyes, from where he was lounging against a tree.

"Y'mean, still able to kick our butts," grunted Raph as he crossed out something on the papers in front of him before handing them to Donnie.

"That too," smirked Leo.

"So does that mean you guys will live longer than your normal counterparts as well?"

I looked up from my new Justice Force comic at this point, waiting for Donnie's answer.

"That'll do it, don't try to over compensate though," commented Donnie as he handed back the papers to Raph.

Raph grunted in acknowledgement. I had no idea what the two of them were doing, but I bet it involved Raph's shell-cycle. The unfortunate piece of machinery had been smashed more times than I could recall and in our last battle it had been smashed up again.

"Don?" prompted April. I noticed Leo had opened his eyes now, also waiting for an answer.

"It's a possibility," Donnie answered.

"How long do normal turtles live for?" I asked. I'd never bothered to look it up. It had never seemed important before.

"Y'mean ones that don't put 'emselves in constant danger. Fight foot ninja's, aliens and any other bad guy or monster that might try to kill us?"

Nobody commented on that, we'd all been close to death, on more than one occasion. Sitting here now at the farm we were recovering from yet another battle that hadn't exactly been in our favour. We'd kicked butt, and beat the bad guys but we'd paid the price in our own blood.

Donnie sighed, "We're mutated from four red-eared sliders, which means normally we'd live between fifty to seventy years."

"But?" prompted April.

Donnie pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don?" asked Leo.

"Leo, I can't be certain of anything."

"Not asking for certainties, just your theory."

"Here we go," grumbled Raph as he pushed himself up into a more upright position. I chuckled, we'd been subjected to more than one of Donnie's theories before. I was lucky if I could ever follow them.

"There may be some evidence, minute evidence that we're aging more slowly." When nobody commented, Donnie continued. "I noticed that we healed rather rapidly after injury. Quicker than humans and normal turtles would with similar injuries. Broken bones seem only to take a few weeks to heal rather than a couple of months and cuts, scab over more quickly."

"That would mean you have more platelets right?" asked April.

"That's what I figured. I also noticed that our telomeres aren't as short as they should be, if we were human that is."

"Telomeres?" asked Leo.

"Simplest answer the cells of our DNA, each time they divide they should become shorter. When we were last on Mortu's ship I borrowed their lab. I looked at my own DNA, the telomeres aren't as short as I expected. Which could be a sign of biological immortality."

"We're immortal? Cool," I grinned. That was like, real superhero material.

"No Mikey, it's not the same as in the comics. We can still die; it just means that we may not die of old-age."

"Don, what are you saying?" asked Leo.

"Yeah, bottom line it for us bro," added Raph.

"Normal turtles don't show physical signs of ageing. Once they reach maturity they are just as healthy at thirty years as they are at seventy years.

"With our mutated biology and evidence of Splinter's extended life it could mean that it's very likely that in a hundred years, maybe two hundred or even three hundred, we'll still be here."

We all sat there in silence, thinking it over. We'd traveled to the future, spent time a hundred years from now, knowing that we were alone. Everybody that we knew was dead. If we lived that long, or longer we'd have to watch it happen.

"We probably won't even look much different," continued Donnie. "We'll probably continue to grow, that's what normal turtles do. Things like sickness though; I don't think will be an issue."

"We've been sick before though," said Leo.

"Considering we've lived in the sewer all our lives and the amount of germs down there and we ate out of garbage cans, we should have died already," sighed Donnie. "Yet the most we ever got was a cold. A cold that never lasted more than a week. Not to mention we're cold blooded, not having access to sunlight should have been a bigger problem. Then there are all the issues that normal turtles have, like shell-rot. We get none of that."

Raph huffed, "Bro, you forget one thing. Trouble always finds us, we'll be lucky if we make it to fifty."

And just like that, Raph had brightened the mood, which was quite a feat considering he's usually so moody.

I laughed, "Dude, I'm having no stinky feet put me down. My death will be the things that legends are made of. Fireworks and everything."

April smiled while Donnie rolled his eyes at us.

Leo chuckled as he closed his eyes again. "Whatever happens, we do it together."

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End file.
